I have two koi angelfish in a heavily planted 20H. All has been well so far, I've had them for about 3 months. They share the tank with 2 Bolivian Rams, 2 Yo You loaches and 5 Gardneri killies. No one bothers them, they're the bosses.

I recently fed some frozen bloodworms, and soon afterwards noticed one had a bright red ball/bulge at it's anus. After my first panic, I thought perhaps it had a bit of constipation, and the color was from passing the bloodworms. Its behaviour was normal (its the pushier one when its feeding time) so I decided to take a wait and see approach.

But its still there today, and while it was looking "better" at first, it seemed to swell and get redder after feeding everyone.

This fish is feeding eagerly, and displays very normal behavior. The only change behaviorally is that now and then it twitches its ventral fins (the long draping ones), as if trying to dislodge the blob at its anus.

Is this just a terrible case of constipation? Is this some sort of infection? (a friend's cat had an infection in an anal gland...... surgery was required). Is it a sign of some sort of parasite or something? Ive never seen anything like this.

I am VERY relieved to report that he seems fine now. Last night I fed with "Sweetwater's Zooplankton", which is a little jar of Daphnia in liquid, like a thick slurry. I've noticed that fish usually eliminate this quickly, perhaps because of the high moisture content.

Early this AM, this fish had the biggest poop I've ever seen. He's not that big - body size is about like a 50Â¢ piece. But this poop was nearly 2" long, and at least 1/8" in diameter! (**** OUCH! **** )

An hour later, it had dropped off, and he had a "normal" poop. I think it might have just been a really bad case of constipation or compaction. I've added some Epsom Salts, at half the dose you mentioned because it seems the crisis is past. I also put in a shot of Stress Coat and some Aquarium Salt (mostly NaCl). I think the redness was because of the bloodworms, and yes, he was a bit bloated, too. Thankfully, he no longer looks bloated, either.

Whew! I hope this isn't a chronic recurring condition with this fish. I will melt the bloodworms next time, and spread them out more over the water surface. This fish is very assertive when feeding, so maybe he gulped down a big wad of them. I won't chance that happening again, it gave me quite a fright.

I have had fish come down with the constipation thing before also. Funny thing is that I have found too many blood worms is usually waht causes it.
I have never had a fish get constipated on any other food.

What I do for constipation is.
1. I don't feed the fish for 24 to 48 hours.
2. If after 48 hours the fish is still constipated, I feed the fish 1/2 of a cooked pea. It works like a laxative and clears em up pretty fast.
3. Feed veggie flakes or wafers or something like that for the next two days. Veggie type foods seem to pass easier than "high protien" foods such as blood worms.

In short. I still feed bloodworms to alot of my fish, but I only feed them bloodworms about two or three times a week, and I don't feed them that much. Whenever I feed bloodworms I like to see them all gone within 1 minuet.

Thanks for the additional information. Thankfully, the "canned daphnia" worked like a charm. The feeding veggies seems like a natural thing to do - I gravitated to feeding spirulina flakes heavily for the next few days.

I've fed them the bloodworms again, but this time let it melt in a little cup with some tank water first. I think that angelfish just gulped down a huge wad of them. I also have been feeding the bloodworms mixed with some daphnia (frozen) so its not solid bloodworms they consume. But they sure do seem to love those bloodworms!

What sort of pea do you start with - frozen, canned, fresh? Does it matter? Cook it like you would for yourself? Will they eat it? My two angels seem very suspicious of unfamiliar foods. (with the exception of the frozen bloodworms obviously, LOL!). I assume you cut it in half because the legumes have a tough outer wall. Very interesting, I'll definitley keep that in mind as well.

I always keep a bag of frozen peas in the fridge just for this reason. I can take just one pea, put it in a cup of water and nuke it in the microwave for a couple of minuets. After it has cooled, I cut it in half, remove the skin and feed it to the plugged up fishy. They eat it and it works like a champ.

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